China is a colossus. It has the world’s second largest economy, and it is catching up fast. Its armed forces become more imposing every day. It has money to burn, and spends it buying influence all over the globe. Mess with it at your peril.
But China is a poor country, too. Its GDP per capita is nowhere close to, say, Taiwan’s, let alone ours. Large swaths of it belong in the Third World. It is consequently entitled to special treatment from international organizations, such as the WTO.
The rich land, poor land tightrope was always difficult to navigate, and is particularly so today, since Xi is more fond of bluster than his predecessors. The end of this is in sight; the rest of the world isn’t going to cut the poor victims of imperialism any slack anymore. And it shouldn’t; today’s China is once again an imperial power in its own right.